PARENTS will have more time to work alongside pupils in preparation for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2023 as dates for the assessment have been announced.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand in a live video on Tuesday confirmed the dates, noting that the intention is not to do away with the NGSA.

Minister Manickchand noted that 2019 was the last “normal” year for NGSA. “In 2020, 2021, 2022, we have had changes in both the timing as well as the curriculum that was used and we want to resume some level of normalcy for 2023,” the education minister noted.

Commenting on the structure of the assessment, Minister Manickchand said it will be based on the Grade 5 curriculum, and then a consolidated curriculum.

She cautioned, however, that concepts from Grades 3 and 4 are also tested. “The children who will be taking the exam next year in 2023 came out of school in Grade 3 and we are very conscious of that,” Minister Manickchand noted further.

Acknowledging that it would be difficult to bridge all of the learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the education minister said the officials of her ministry have studied the circumstances thoroughly before arriving at a decision.

Guyana’s top education official noted that an early announcement of the dates allows for families to properly plan their holidays “and not be guessing and waiting on us at the ministry.”

“Results are going to be ready by July 11,2023,” she said.

Previously, Minister Manickchand noted that the NGSA would not be removed from Guyana’s school system. “We are not ending NGSA; I want us to be very clear about that.

“Barbados, Trinidad and a couple of other countries explored ending their primary exit examination, but it’s not happening, and that’s because it’s hard to do, for a variety of reasons.

“The exit exams measure a whole set of other things in addition to placement. So, I didn’t speak about ending it,” Minister Manickchand clarified some time ago.

On July 6 and 7 this year, almost 16,250 learners from across Guyana underwent this assessment. This is a significant rise from the 13,822 students who took the exam in 2021.